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For a second straight week, Michigan State football found themselves on the wrong end of a blowout, this time a shutout against No. 10 Indiana, 24-0. It was the first time the Spartans were shutout at home since 1985.
The Spartans’ defense started off strong with a pair of early stops, including a nice interception from Shakur Brown, but things went downhill quickly after that. The MSU offense committed three first half turnovers — two interceptions from Rocky Lombardi and one fumble from Anthony Williams Jr. — leading to a 24-0 deficit at halftime. Lombardi was benched in the 2nd quarter following his second interception of the game and seventh of the season.
Redshirt Payton Thorne replaced Lombardi on Saturday as the Spartans’ quarterback, but he didn’t experience much more success. Thorne finished the day with 110 passing yards and one interception on 10-of-20 passing attempts. Thorne’s best play of the day came on a 38-yard run in the first possession he took over for Lombardi.
MSU was outgained 433-to-191 in total yards by the Hoosiers. Indiana quarterback Michael Penix Jr. finished the day with 320 yards, two touchdowns and two interceptions on 25-of-38 passing attempts. His favorite target was Ty Fryfogle, who tore up the Spartans’ secondary for 200 yards and two touchdowns on 11 receptions.
Potentially the lone positive for MSU from Saturday’s game was Brown, who finished the game with two interceptions. The first halted the Hoosiers’ opening drive and the second came in the endzone, which at the time appeared to be a huge play towards keeping the game close.
MSU falls to 1-3 on the season after Saturday’s loss to the Hoosiers. The Spartans have been outscored 111-to-34 in their three losses this season.
Michigan State is scheduled to play at Maryland next week, but the Terps are currently in the midst of a COVID-19 outbreak that resulted in the cancelation of their match-up with Ohio State on Saturday. We should know in the next few days whether or not next Saturday’s game against Maryland will take place.
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